Watkins Glen, N. Y. The Scott Pruett-Memo Rojas express continued to dominate Rolex Sports Car Series action as the two stalwarts raced to victory in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen International on Saturday evening.
The winners completed the 99-lap race at a record speed 120.679 miles per hour, making it the fastest event in Daytona Prototype history.
Winning for the seventh time in 2010, Pruett and Rojas tied Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney for the most victories in one season, and with three races left on the schedule, they may well add to their record before the season ends.
Pruett and Rojas drove the finely tuned TELMEX BMW Riley owned by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Two months ago Pruett and Rojas romped in the Six Hours of The Glen, run on the 3.4-mile long course and tonight’s race was conducted on the shorter 2.45-mile course to mark the ninth time the Rolex Series has shared the Glen weekend with NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.
“We had a different strategy and it worked in our favor,” Pruett said. “Overall, the car was solid, and we seemed to have a good set-up for the Glen. The traffic was tough, and you could easily lose seconds a lap. We worked traffic the best we could and tried to race smart.”
Added Rojas, who started the race from the pole position, “Traffic worked for and against us, and you just had to be aggressive but stay out of trouble.”
Running close to the leaders throughout was the SunTrust Racing Ford Dallara driven by Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli. Taylor led 29 laps in the early going before yielding to the winning BMW.
“It was very difficult to pass, and I got a little lucky with traffic,” Taylor said.
Angelelli, who drove to the finish, stated, “We had a different strategy (pitting for fuel only near the end). As we came out of the pits, two GT cars got between me and (Scott) Pruett, and that killed us.”
Third place went to Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney in the GAINSCO Chevrolet Riley.
“I am pretty happy to finish third but it was disheartening at the same time,” Fogarty said.
Gurney said the team had a tough day. “Finishing third was as much as we could hope for as the first two cars seemed to be in a different league,” he commented.
Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest drove a BMW Riley to fourth place ahead of Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia in a Porsche Coyote.
In the Daytona Prototype point race, Pruett and Rojas lead Dalziel by 26 markers with Taylor and Angelelli four behind them.
The initial 87 laps were run without a caution flag but a pair of slowdowns took place in the last quarter hour, slowing the pace. The first slowdown was to tow a car in and the second took place on the subsequent restart when David Donohue and Burt Frisselle tangled, collecting Tracy Krohn.
The GT class had non-stop action within its ranks as the race wound down. In the end, Dempsey Racing scored its first victory with James Gue and Leh Keen behind the wheel of a Mazda RX-8. They maneuvered into the lead on a late race start, passing Jonathan Bomarito in the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.
Bomarito and teammate Sylvain Tremblay led 82 of the class’s 92 laps to finish runner-up.
Third in GT went to the Banner Racing Corvette of Paul Edwards and Scott Russell.
The Rolex Series moves to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on August 28 for another two-hour race.
Joe JenningsUnited SportsCar Championship